Are There Still Any Guys Discerning?

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1352336' date='Aug 7 2007, 08:42 PM']That's a neat insight. I am a housekeeper for a diocesan priest and I often imagine how lonely he might get when I'm cleaning. But he's from a really large family, that mostly lives close by, so he spends a LOT of time with them rather than alone.

I am from a family of six, too, and I could never see myself as being single. At all. That's different from what we're talking about but along similar lines...[/quote]

My spiritual director is a diocesan priest and he says he looks forward to having time alone since he hardly has any I imagine most priests feel about the same way with many demands on their time. Also, introverts are energized by their alone time, so diocesan priesthood would be the natural choice for them. I'm drawn to it mainly because I like where I'm living, most of my family and friends are nearby, and I think I'd get tired of living in community with the same guys around all the time

[Vincent Vega]

I think I may be in the very early stages of discernment for the diocesan priesthood, or more likely, permanent diaconate.
Do I count?

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' post='1352547' date='Aug 8 2007, 05:57 AM']I think I may be in the very early stages of discernment for the diocesan priesthood, or more likely, permanent diaconate.
Do I count? [/quote]

I think you do

I permanent deacons. They rock. (Although since you're apparently not married at the moment, you should become a priest, of course )

[Slappo]

Oops, I thought I posed here already! I'm discerning diocesan and religious order... Not quite sure what yet, or if I'm even called, but I'm out there! If I'm too loud about it then I get non stop questions from my parish, and that only makes me feel pressured to pursue a vocation to priesthood :S

[nowak.chris]

[quote name='IrishSalesian' post='1351072' date='Aug 6 2007, 12:27 PM']I come from a family of six children. So I liked the aspect of living in community.[/quote]

Me too! But I can't resist the urge to 'stand in the gap' on the front lines (so to speak), it is a shame that there are virtually no orders dedicated to parish life (yes, there are the Canons of St John Cantius, or the Companions of Christ in MN, but for the US that's pretty much it).

Next meeting with my Spiritual Director could be intresting, as he sent me looking for orders and I'm coming back with very little in hand.

[IrishSalesian]

[quote name='nowak.chris' post='1354490' date='Aug 9 2007, 11:04 PM']Me too! But I can't resist the urge to 'stand in the gap' on the front lines (so to speak), it is a shame that there are virtually no orders dedicated to parish life (yes, there are the Canons of St John Cantius, or the Companions of Christ in MN, but for the US that's pretty much it).

Next meeting with my Spiritual Director could be intresting, as he sent me looking for orders and I'm coming back with very little in hand.[/quote]


Well some orders do run parishes within a certain diocese. If the Bishop os kind enough to allow them a parish.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='IrishSalesian' post='1355048' date='Aug 10 2007, 10:45 AM']Well some orders do run parishes within a certain diocese. If the Bishop os kind enough to allow them a parish.[/quote]

Yeah, that seems to be pretty common, at least within the Franciscan and Domincan orders.

[Slappo]

Isn't the bishop usually THANKFUL for them running a parish? Takes a load of work off the shoulders of his preists! I know my bishop would probably love to have a religious order take one of our parishes.

[Berchmans525]

I am a guy who is discerning my vocation in life. It is hard because I haven't "dated" like most guys my age and you get all these temptations/battles "thrown" at you which can really confuse you a lot.. It's rough but I am still working at it.. When you see people your age who were really CATHOLIC like you fall away from the faith, it hurts you to see such a thing..

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1352709' date='Aug 8 2007, 02:39 AM']I think you do

I permanent deacons. They rock. (Although since you're apparently not married at the moment, you should become a priest, of course )[/quote]
Well, I haven't ruled the thought out...
But sometimes, I don't know if God wants me to be a priest/deacon, or if [b]I[/b] want me to be a priest/deacon.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Berchmans525' post='1355822' date='Aug 10 2007, 10:35 PM']I am a guy who is discerning my vocation in life. It is hard because I haven't "dated" like most guys my age and you get all these temptations/battles "thrown" at you which can really confuse you a lot.. It's rough but I am still working at it.. When you see people your age who were really CATHOLIC like you fall away from the faith, it hurts you to see such a thing..[/quote]

I was raised Lutheran and nearly all of my friends growing up (except for the token atheist) were Christians, including a few Catholics, and nearly all of them slid away during college. The stats I've seen say that about 20% of the high school kids involved in church are still in involved in their mid-20s. Fortunately, many of those who fall away will slowly have to face the emptiness of living without God as they grow older.

[tojo]

Come on guys, I'm discerning... I know some of you are too....

Let's breathe some life into this thread!

[Starets]

I've made up my mind. Does that count?

[tojo]

Yes.

[shortnun]

For the gentleman discerning... I wanted to share with you the new and improved website of the Dominican (Central) Province of St. Albert the Great. [b][url="http://www.domcentral.org"]HERE[/url][/b]

I go to school with many/most of their brothers in formation and they are near and dear to my heart!

Dominicans

Edited August 29, 2007 by shortnun

[Starets]

[quote name='tomasio127' post='1369137' date='Aug 23 2007, 04:39 PM']Yes.[/quote]
Tahts good to know I should be entering Christ in the Desert shortly after Easter.

[TheOliverOrder88]

After living with a couple of Dominicans, I have come to realize that they have the raddest habit of all. Seriously, I couldn't get over their formal wear.

In other news, I might be getting an Opus Dei priest for a spiritual director... I am pretty excited about that...

[salterrae]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' post='1356095' date='Aug 11 2007, 12:14 AM']Well, I haven't ruled the thought out...
But sometimes, I don't know if God wants me to be a priest/deacon, or if [b]I[/b] want me to be a priest/deacon.[/quote]
Man, has [i]that[/i] been a problem for me...

What I think I'm being called to changes almost biweekly. I always try to think realistic and see what God has made me capable for and brought before me to spark an interest. But then I think that maybe I'm supposed to change at some point and get into something I never thought I would.

I'm only 16 so I've got a lot of time left to discern. Here's my current list of options:

Religious life:
---Monasticism: Carmelite Monks in Wyoming (I'm really close to the Carmelites who teach at my school, and I just love everything about this order. I'm just not sure if it's a realistic option for me, and sometimes I think it's like the easy way out of life's problems and work. It'd take A LOT of explaining to convince my family.)
---Other: Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (I'm not too sure about this one. I've never dealt with the poor, but this is something I'd think I'm "supposed" to change into. Anways, St. Francis has "followed" me around a lot.)

Diocesan Priesthood (This was what I thought I'd choose before I learned about the other options. I heard that joy should be the compass we use to discern, and although it seems like it'd be something for me, it brings a lot of worry and no joy. But I still keep it an option just incase.)

Marriage (Always open to forming a family of future Saints. )

[Guest heartofyouth]

For those who are radical out there, try the OATH! Their prayer life is awesome. Rising at 3am, fasting three times a week, and a great apostolate to the youth! they really are soldiers for Jesus and Mary.

they've been doing Eucharistic congresses all over the world and thousands come! here, many find conversion others their vocation.

i've been with them and i've felt the challenge. hope you guys can check them out and meet men who are ready to lay down their lives for souls.

and guys, because of their penance, they're exorcists too!

[Maria]

[quote name='nowak.chris' post='1351030' date='Aug 6 2007, 11:21 AM']That's my problem with the diocesan priesthood, and I think it is a more common problem (both for those discerning a call and young priests) than many realize. I wish that canons regular were more common, as they offer the benefit of living in community with a specific charism of working in the parish.[/quote]
There's also the Companions of the Cross. At their founding they were a bunch of diocesan seminarians who met together with a priest for mutual support and to grow in the faith, etc. Although they are an order, they're pretty much diocesan priests who live in communities of not less than 5. And they are in the US, somewhere in Texas.

[quote name='Slappo' post='1355547' date='Aug 10 2007, 08:32 PM']Isn't the bishop usually THANKFUL for them running a parish? Takes a load of work off the shoulders of his preists! I know my bishop would probably love to have a religious order take one of our parishes.[/quote]
It's nice having an order run a parish, [size=4]but.[/size].. when vocations decrease (to dioceses and older orders, anyway), guess what? The orders can't maintain the parishes and dump them on the diocese, who have to spread out their priests even more thinly. That's why my archbishop, even though he is inviting orders in, isn't inviting them to take care of parishes. Shrines and sanctuaries are a different matter.